Super Mixtape V.0.3.4.0a

Almost the end of this chapter ready for the content drive!

The public 'feel' of the game and controls phase is coming to an end and has been extremely useful in fine tuning elements in Super Mixtape to make it feel more natural given that it has a fairly complex control scheme. After these last few updates, and the engine update, I will be moving Super Mixtape into content mode and will be releasing the future levels for the game now that I know none of the physics of the game need to be changed heavily at this point. There's also plans for some fun 'modes' to be introduced into the game, so keep your eyes open for that. This last sprint has had a lot of focus on infrastructure and systems, with moving off my personal server onto a work specific one, and closing my personal server down, which has been long overdue. I was hosting a lot of websites there for friends and other small companies, so have been migrating them to their own servers. I have also started planning a new trailer for the game ready for V0.4.0.0. Steam Trading cards and Steam badges for Super Mixtape are currently underway and will be active very soon, I will post a small announcement when they go live, so keep your eyes open for them as well!

What's new in V0.3.4.0A

• TV Filter Bug - This bug was persistent for quite a long time, but after lots of hunting, testing and fixing, it is no more.

• New Server - All of Super Mixtape and Polygrammatic has moved over to a new server, so most of the time in this last sprint has been moving the infrastructure across to the new system (which is great!).

• Engine Upgrade - Super Mixtape is now running smoothly on Unity 5.5 with everything tested and working (no issues so far).

• Full Controller Support - Super Mixtape now works with the Steam controller using it's 'out the box' configuration. As always, you can customise the controls in the Unity Launcher.

• Menu tweaks - There has been some small tweaks to the main menu, there is currently a selection bug where it has your previous selection selected. This is top of the list to fix in the next update.

• Level tweaks - There have been some minor level tweaks in Level 1 Act 2 and 3 to help with the flow of these levels.

What's next

• Steam Badges - More info coming soon

• Steam Trading Cards - More info coming soon

• Bug fixing - There is a small menu but at the moment (highlighted above) to be fixed immediately.

• End level animations - Have the cassette draw open when Mix gets close to show the player that they need to jump in to end the level.

• Menu - I'm still not happy with the menu at all so A) suggestions are more than welcome and B) maybe I should just go back to basics and make it super simple, reminiscent of the Commodore 64 days?

• Platforms - Platforms across level 1, act 1, 2 and 3 need to be made seamless and remove the connecting lines that are there form assembling the level.

• Checkpoint no returns - Make all the checkpoints, points where the player can no longer return back through the level if there is an audio section change and moving platforms are involved. This stops the player potentially getting 'stuck' in an area that they cannot get free from as they can no longer move the beats.

• Hints - Level 1 act 2 and level 1 act 3 hints need to be added to the levels to give gentle reminders to the player at difficult points.

• Ending Animation - I need to add a small animation where Mix does "something" after jumping into Master Blaster.

• Music Player - More work on the in-game music player, with the hope of introducing it in the new year.

Alongside this update I have been planning and thinking about reintroducing enemies in the game at the beginning of Level 2 Act 1, and have also been planning on finding a way of 'justifying' the checkpoints so that the player knows when they are now 'safe'. I was thinking of using pencils to denote this? As always, stay up to date with development over on Trello and on Twitter . Christo